Dan Lukasik is the Director of Workplace Well-being and oversees the Mindset program. Dan is a mental health advocate and practicing lawyer with 30 years of experience. He lectures around the country on topics of stress, anxiety and depression. In 2008, Dan created a weekly lawyer support group in his community for those who struggle with depression and a website lawyerswithdepression.com, the first website and blog of its kind in the nation, to help law students, lawyers, and judges cope with and heal from depression. Since its launch, the website has grown to serve not only those in the legal profession but anyone who struggles with stress, anxiety, and depression. The site has had over 2 million page views and been voted one of the top depression blogs in the country five years running by Medical News Today and Healthline.com.

He is passionate about reducing stigma surrounding mental illness and working with businesses to develop strategies to create mentally healthy workplace cultures.

Dan graduated from Buffalo State College with a degree in psychology, and the University at Buffalo School of Law. He has been the recipient of numerous community service awards and served as chairman of the board for Compeer of Greater Buffalo (2015).

I spent 30 years doing public and investor relations work with some really great people and some truly incredible companies/organizations. Most days, I told folks, "This much fun...and we get paid too! Doesn't seem right." I was blessed! In 2011, I was honored to join the Mental Health Association (MHA) of Erie County as the Executive Director, an organization where I had been a volunteer for nearly three decades. The MHA does some amazing work, promoting mental health and wellness and helping folks who have suffered a temporary or more permanent loss of mental health or wellness. Again, I work with incredibly talented and passionate people doing work that really makes a difference in people's lives. How cool is that! I'm still blessed!!!

I am especially interested in working with the leadership teams at organizations – large and small, for-profit and non-profit alike – helping to develop a culture of workplace well-being, which benefits both employees and the organization. Workplace mental well-being is a growing focus of MHA’s mission. As we tell folks, it’s not a question of whether or not you’ll spend money on mental health; You will. It is more a question of where will that money be spent. Will we wait until mental health issues develop -- either ignoring, minimizing, or responding poorly to them? Or will we invest in wellness and create a culture of health, resilience, and well-being?